Philosophies
by fringeperson
Summary: DO NOT OWN. Yin and Yang, Wen and Wu. Ranma. The boy may have had a messed up life, but it is full of the balance of these philosophies.
1. Chapter 1

~oOo~

Yin

~oOo~

Yin is characterized as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet. Yin is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity and the night.

~oOo~

Ranma dodged Akane's attacks. The offer from the girl to be friends had been gratefully received just moments ago, and now they were having a friendly 'spar' in the dojo of the Tendo house. Akane was throwing punches and kicks, and Ranma was avoiding them. From the look on Akane's face, Ranma was guessing that not being able to land any kind of hit was beginning to infuriate the other girl. There suddenly being a fist-sized hole in the wall might have been another tip-off.

Ranma gently poked Akane in the back of the head, smiling hopefully. She really _did_ want to be friends. It wouldn't be long, she knew, before their father's were back on that engagement kick, and Ranma really only had one option from the Tendo sisters. Kasumi was too old – three years older! However nice she was, Ranma just didn't like the idea. Nabiki was too insensitive – seriously, just poking and grabbing her breasts and _no_ sense of personal space! No. Just no. On the other hand, Akane was the same age as him, had been nice so far if apparently a little short tempered, and really did care about the dojo – and the union was supposed to unite the schools after all.

"I'm glad you're a girl," Akane said, smiling a little as she withdrew.

"Why? Were you looking forward to a fiancé as much as I was?" Ranma joked, referring to the way she had been literally carried in, kicking and screaming, against her will.

Akane laughed. "Well, that too," she said. "But I couldn't stand to lose to a boy," she explained.

"Akane, wait," Ranma called, stopping the other girl from leaving.

"Huh? What is it Ranma?"

Ranma took a deep breath, steeled herself, and knelt before the girl on the dojo floor. "Thank you for offering to be my friend, but there is something that I must tell you."

Akane blinked and returned to the centre of the room where Ranma was kneeling, and sat down with her. "What is it?"

Ranma opened her blue eyes, fixed them on Akane's face, and admitted the full truth. From the cursed springs, to all the other weird training her father had put her through, to the crazy Chinese Amazon girl who was after her life – she even admitted to having eaten Ukyo's sauce and tried making it again, but knowing that she'd done it wrong. She even told Akane about Ryoga, for all that she hadn't seen him for a long time. The story didn't end until Ranma had covered her reaction to being told she was promised to marry a Tendo earlier that day, and being carried in, screaming – Akane hadn't seen all of that after all. It turned out to be a very, _very_ long story.

Akane was silent for a while, just blinking as she took it all in. The girl was a boy. She'd had a practically torturous life because her father was an idiot, and because she thought with her stomach had a few problems as well.

"So..." Akane mused quietly, finally breaking the tense silence that had fallen around them heavily as Ranma watched Akane think about what she'd been told. "What does all that mean then?"

Ranma took a deep breath, and took Akane's hands in her own.

"Before family members start trying to force anything, I am asking you. Akane, I figure you and I probably have the most in common, so, will _you_, someday, be my bride?" Ranma asked, a little brokenly and clearly quite nervous.

Akane blushed, and looked down at Ranma's hands holding her own, then nodded quietly.

Kasumi came then to show their guest to her room.

"And here," she said, handing over a towel. "After all that exercise and travel, you would surely be glad of a bath, yes?"

Ranma nodded silently, staring at the soft yellow towel as she followed the older, honestly very motherly girl, to the bathroom.

Alone, Ranma put a sign on the door saying to knock first, and then stripped down, soaped up and rinsed off before climbing into the blissfully hot water, laying a cloth over his eyes, and lying back to just relax for a little while.

For some reason, there was no knock before he heard the door slide open.

"Eep!"

Ranma at least recognised the voice, which was good, and recognised Akane, which was better. Not removing the cloth from his face, Ranma felt around for a towel or cloth, and pulled it over himself when he found one.

"Akane?" he asked carefully. He hadn't heard the door shut yet, which meant she'd either run off and left it open, or was still standing there.

"H-how'd you know it was me?" Akane asked, clearly unnerved.

Ranma gave a shaky smile. "You're voice when you squeaked," he admitted. "I _did_ tell you what happened with the hot and cold water Akane," he reminded gently. "Um... Would you like to turn around and I'll get out? Or, uh, would you like to... to join me?"

"Pervert!" Akane gasped.

Ranma shook his head. "I'll keep the cloth over my eyes, and not do anything you don't want me to," he promised. "Akane, I... I'm sorry about the whole situation but... as my fiancé? Please? If we can get through this, we'll probably be able to handle anything."

Of course, he was blushing fit to be mistaken for a great big tomato, and it didn't stop at just his face. The flush went down his neck and over his ears as well.

"Okay," Akane said at last, and Ranma listened to her soap and rinse before also climbing into the warm water with him.

"Akane," Ranma said quietly, aware of her feet brushing against his in the water. "Why didn't you knock, when I'd said before about the Jusenkyo curse? I didn't exactly hide my clothing in the other room."

Akane blushed, though Ranma didn't see it, as the cloth was still over his eyes. "I guess I didn't entirely believe it," she said quietly. "And then... when I saw you in here..."

Ranma smirked just a little. "Enjoy the view while it lasts?" he suggested, a tiny bit smug.

Akane splashed him, but laughed, even as she called him a pervert again.

Ranma laughed too. "I don't want you to ever believe that of me Akane," he said gently, once the laughter had subsided. He heard the water slosh a little, and a hand lay on his arm beneath the water, soft skin pressing against his side ever-so-lightly.

"I don't Ranma," Akane said. "You explained it all to me, I was just teasing." Akane giggled. "I mean," she explained, "when you've got your own girl's body to stare at all the time, as well as a male one, you _could_ be a pervert going both ways."

Ranma paled. "That's not funny," he said.

Akane giggled. "But your reaction is," she pointed out. "I don't mean it," she said again. "You should probably get out. You're getting wrinkly."

Ranma sighed, checked the way the cloth over his hips was tied, felt for the edge of the bath, and stood up.

"Wow," Akane breathed, then clamped a hand over her mouth.

Ranma chuckled. "Now who's the pervert?" he teased. "Thanks for boosting my ego. I'll see you out there soon?"

"Uh-huh," Akane answered, watching, still a little stunned, as Ranma felt his way along the wall to the door, his eyes still closed and covered, before he disappeared into the other room.

What could have been a terribly bad beginning, amazingly, wasn't. When Akane got out of the bath, before she went to watch the explanation that was being given – badly – to the rest of her family by Saotome Genma while Nabiki stared at Ranma accusingly, she moved Ranma's backpack and futon to her room.

He'd just shared his bath, she could certainly share her room. It would be good preparation for when – not if – they did eventually fulfil the wishes of their parents and marry.

~oOo~


	2. Chapter 2

~oOo~

Yang

~oOo~

Yang is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, or aggressive. Yang is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and the day.

~oOo~

"School. Seriously Old Man," Ranma said, sighing and running a hand through his hair in frustration. "You may be irresponsible, but _I'm_ not. I've been enrolled in a distance school for years! With all the travelling we do, it was the only way I could learn the things all the other kids knew."

"You're going to Akane's school, and that's that!" Genma said firmly, shoving a school bag into Ranma's hands.

Ranma sighed, but figured it wouldn't do to argue the point. He'd go, maybe get to walk Akane to school, and get everything sorted out at the office.

"Don't act like you know me when we get to school grounds, okay?" Akane said as she and Ranma jogged to school.

"Why?" Ranma asked, surprised. They'd been getting along, why wouldn't she want to admit to knowing him at school?

"For your safety," Akane said. "Just stay back when we get to the gate, and I'll explain later."

"Akane! Date with me!" a horde of boys cried, appearing as they reached the school grounds.

Ranma stumbled when he heard that. They were _attacking_ Akane, and they wanted to _go out_ with her? He may not have been the brightest guy around, but even to him that sounded stupid. Who the heck came up with that? Surely not Akane – she'd said made it clear yesterday that she didn't like losing, and most especially to boys.

Ranma growled as one last guy stepped out – after a crowd of them had fallen. There was no way, _no way_ he was letting Akane deal with this on her own ever again. He was going to walk her to school, and then he was going to help her beat up all of these idiots so that she didn't have to worry so much about being on time to class. He hopped down from the wall he'd been watching the fight from, not caring as he stepped on people on his way to Akane.

"Tomorrow, I'm helping," he said firmly, a hint of a growl in his voice.

Akane turned from Kuno to Ranma, surprised. "It's my fight Ranma, I'm used to it," she said.

"It's harassment," Ranma countered lowly.

"Why are you being so familiar with Akane?" Kuno demanded, breaking in.

"I told you not to act familiar," Akane mumbled. "He's a guest at my house," she said, more clearly, for Kuno to hear.

"You dare to hound the precious Akane! I will not stand for it! Name yourself and face me!" Kuno declared. "Ah, but I forget, it is manners to give your own name first. Very well. I am the rising new star of the kendo world, my strength is beyond measure! I am the captain of Furinkan High School Kendo Club! My voice alone can silence a crying child! I a junior in Class E. My peers call me... The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! Kuno Tatewaki. Age seventeen."

Ranma rolled his eyes and took his bag off his shoulders. "Akane, you go to class. I wouldn't want you to be late," he said, tossing his bag back to the wall. "I am Saotome Ranma of the School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. I accept your challenge."

The fight didn't last long. It was only ten minutes before Kuno was sitting in his classroom, staring at his reflection in a borrowed mirror, furious to see that Ranma had somehow written 'Bufoon' on his forehead with his bare finger. Nabiki, whose mirror he was using, thought it looked like a bruise. Ranma, on the other hand, had quickly sorted out the papers with the secretary in the office and was wandering the streets looking for a job – just something to keep him busy until it was time to go and pick up Akane from school.

"You're looking for a job?" asked the old man who ran the grocery shop, surprised.

"Shouldn't you be in school young man?" his wife said, also blinking in disbelief.

Ranma smiled. "I have a home-schooling course, which I do by distance. I can study in the afternoon. I just want something to keep me busy between dropping my girl off at school and going to pick her up at the end of the day – maybe make it so I can afford to get her a nice treat now and then," he explained.

The old lady chuckled. "Fair enough," she said, smiling.

"Well, we're getting frail, but the shop has a lot of heavy lifting to do, as well as a few things that have to be put away a fair bit higher up than either of us can reach any more," the old man said.

"You're hired," the old woman cut in, smiling.

Ranma grinned, and they set him to work out the back immediately.

At twenty to three, the old couple waved him over and gave him his money for the day's work.

"What you've managed to get done today would have taken us a week," the old man said with a chuckle. "You come back tomorrow Ranma. We may not have work for you, but one of our friends will, I assure you."

"With how you work, you'll be helping out a lot of us old shop keepers," the old woman said, smiling gratefully, then sighed. "Oh, I feel a little younger already, just from seeing the shop like this and not aching from the work it took to get this way."

Ranma smiled bashfully as he slipped the yen into his pocket. "Well, I'm glad to have been useful," he said, scratching the back of his head. "And thank you. Oh, uh, if you're going to suggest me to your friends, please mention that I genuinely cannot work around cats. I had a traumatic experience in my childhood that led to a rather embarrassingly extreme phobia."

"Oh," the old woman said, concerned. "I was thinking of telling Umi next door about you, but she's got a cat."

The old man frowned as well, apparently also disappointed.

Ranma smiled. "I don't mind if she's _got_ one," he said. "I just need to never _see_ it," he explained.

The couple sighed in relief. "That's alright then," they said.

Ranma's smile grew a little. "Thank you again for the job," he said.

The pair cackled a little. "Thank you for doing the work so quickly," the old man said, beaming.

"Now get along to that school and go see your girl," the old woman added.

Ranma nodded, waved, and left, taking a quick look at the other shops nearby so that he had some idea of what he could be doing in the coming days. He was relieved to see that very few of them looked like they would cause him to get wet, and headed to Furinkan High School whistling happily. It had been a good day, and his muscles were all warmed up and a little tingly from all the lifting he'd been doing today.

"Saotome Ranma!" Kuno yelled when Ranma stepped into the school gate at the end of the day, looking for Akane. "How dare you force yourself on Akane!"

Ranma blinked and grabbed the wooden sword, stopping its path a few inches away from his face. It very suddenly wasn't a good day. And hadn't he dealt with this guy already?

"What do you want now?" he asked, annoyed and scanning the crowds of students for Akane.

"I refuse to accept your relationship with Akane! It is not legitimate! I declared to the entire school on speech day that one may only date Akane if they best her in a fight!" Kuno yelled swinging his wooden sword, trying to hit Ranma.

"One: tough rocks, because you really have no say in the matter. Two: it is legitimate, her family and mine both approve, and she agreed. Three: you're a complete idiot if you think that beating Akane in a fight is going to get her to actually _like_ you, and four!" Ranma said, who was finally bored of dodging the wildly flailing weapon, and kicked Kuno hard in the face. "You leave my fiancé alone or it will be my pleasure to fulfil my duty as her intended to pound you into the mud and break every bone in your body," Ranma finished coldly, whipping his head around the glare at the rest of the male student body as well, just to make sure that they got the message too.

He heard Akane giggle behind him.

"Aw," she fake-whined. "Does that mean I'm never gonna get to beat up on a guy again?" she asked, trying desperately to keep herself from laughing, having difficulty even keeping a straight face, as she locked eyes with Ranma.

Ranma smiled and chuckled, delicately taking her hand and linking their arms together.

"Well, if you want to beat up someone I won't mind," he said, "but if someone offends you, then they've offended me too, so they're gonna get beat up twice. Matter of honour."

Akane laughed then, and didn't try to hide it.

"You're really engaged Akane?"

Ranma looked over at a couple of girls who were just a few paces away. Akane had been standing between them before he'd tugged her close enough to link their arms together.

"Yes," Akane admitted. "It's an arranged marriage, but it's not so bad really. Ranma's very open about the things that are important after all."

"And thanks to the bozo over there, I don't need you to explain about this morning," he said. "Now, what do you say I take you out for a treat?" he offered. "You pick where we go, since I'm new in town, but I'll pay."

Akane smiled. "Can my friends come too?" she asked.

"Well, I _had_ hoped it might be just the two of us, and I might get to know you better," he said, tugging her just a little closer and wrapping his other arm around her in a quick hug. "But," he said, releasing the close embrace with a sigh, "I suppose I can get to know you just as well with your friends around, and it would probably be to my advantage to get on their good sides as well."

Akane beamed. "Thank you Ranma."

"To the Aquarium!" declared a blonde girl happily.

Ranma's face fell and he looked at Akane, worried.

"All the water will be behind thick glass," Akane reassured him quietly. "You won't get wet, I promise."

Ranma sighed, and smiled as he shook his head at the girl. "Alright," he said. "To the Aquarium, but if we go and see a seal or dolphin show, we're sitting up the very back. You have the best view from there and are less likely to get splashed."

Akane and her two friends nodded their agreement.

~oOo~


	3. Chapter 3

~oOo~

Wen

~oOo~

Wen is literary, cultural, mental. Wen is politics, refinement, education, self-control and containment. Wen is vital to being a true man.

~oOo~

Akane was feeling a little insecure about her position as Ranma's fiancé. With Kodachi on one side, desperate for a date and believing herself to be Ranma's true intended because Kuno had approved, Shampoo on another side because of the ancient laws of her Chinese Amazon clan, and Uyko only just barely fended off at the last moment – Ranma had said he only wanted to be friends with her, and had paid her back the bride price his father had taken from her, twice over. Actually, Ukyo had, sort of, become friends with Akane, though she obviously cared a _lot_ more about Ranma. Still, it wasn't easy. Especially since they all knew the saying "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach", to which Ranma was no exception, and Akane was the only girl vying for his attention who couldn't cook.

It was kind of depressing actually. She'd tried and tried, but everything she made tasted bad. It didn't help that both Kodachi and Shampoo were always happy to point this out while Ranma wolfed down the food that they brought him.

No, that was unfair, he didn't really. He may have been happy to eat, but he never ate all of what they brought him. Actually, he really just had a large, obvious mouthful and then subtly passed it off to someone else nearby, or put the lid back on, or wrapped it up – and she knew he often gave the food to the elderly couples he worked for on school days, so that they wouldn't have to cook for themselves all the time, save them a little extra money.

Suddenly Akane wondered if maybe the reason he took such a large mouthful when they brought him food was to check that they weren't giving him something poisoned. He could withstand stuff like that, but he'd know whether it was safe to pass on to the old people to eat or not if he noticed anything odd when he was eating.

Still, she sighed to herself, it would be nice to be able to be the 'perfect wife' like the other girls could claim to be.

"No they can't Akane," Ranma said gently, coming up beside her in the school yard.

"Huh?" Akane asked, confused.

Ranma smiled a little. "You didn't notice you said that out loud?" he teased gently. "Shampoo and Kodachi can't claim to be 'perfect wives'," he explained.

Akane blushed. Oh. He'd heard _that_ bout of insecurity.

"Do you want to know why?" he continued, brushing that long, dangling bit of her hair behind her ear.

"Sure," she said, fighting back tears, "tell me why."

"Because they never listen to a damn thing I say," Ranma said. "Good cooking is the _only_ thing those two have going for them."

Akane's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Uh, what about having nice bodies?" she asked tentatively.

Ranma waved it off. "Pfft," he said. "I'm built better than either of them," he declared with a smirk that Akane knew was teasing. Ranma wouldn't ever really put anybody down like that – okay he might if it were true... and it was in this case. "What do I care about the outside if I can't stand what's inside?" the young man pointed out. "It's like they think 'no' means 'yes' and 'get lost' means 'take me I'm yours'."

Akane laughed.

"Besides," Ranma continued, glad that Akane was smiling again. "Shampoo is crazy and Kodachi is psychotic."

"But they can cook," Akane pointed out. "I just ruin food."

Ranma smiled gently and slipped his arm around Akane's waist. "Well, then I'll do the cooking," he said. "No shame in a man providing for his wife after all," he pointed out. "Or we could take cooking classes together, in the school holidays if you like. I really only know how to make soups and stews anyway," he said, pulling a slight face as he remembered that detail.

Akane giggled and let Ranma hold her.

"I'd like that," she said as they crossed the threshold into the Tendo dojo.

"But right now," Ranma said, holding up Akane's school bag – which surprised her, as she didn't remember him taking it, but then, she couldn't remember carrying it home either. "Right _now_ we have homework," he said.

Akane nodded and went straight up the stairs to their room. Ranma decided to make a quick stop by the kitchen first, and was glad to find that Kasumi wasn't there. This would let him make something for Akane and himself to eat while they studied.

"Ranma?" Akane asked, surprised, confused and delighted to see him coming through her door with a small table in his hands, a tray of spring rolls, a bowl of fruit salad, and some still steaming dumplings all set out on the small table around a glass vase that held up a bright yellow daffodil – Akane's favourite flower.

"They may cook for me," Ranma said by way of explanation as he sat down and pulled out his own school work. "But you're the only girl I'm ever gonna cook for."

Akane smiled, and wiped at new tears of joy that were brimming in her eyes. "Thank you Ranma," she said. "Thank you so much."

Ranma just blushed a little and grabbed up one of the spring rolls, popping it in his mouth, then opened his books.

~oOo~


	4. Chapter 4

~oOo~

Wu

~oOo~

Wu is martial, physical and battle-readiness. Wu is power, the body, persuasion, self-control and containment. Wu is vital to being a true man.

~oOo~

Wu control also means being able to restrain ones own orgasm in order to satisfy their partner's need for pleasure. Often several times.

~oOo~

Ranma was sitting on the porch out back of Dr Tofu's clinic. It had been a while since Shampoo and Kodachi had tried to ambush him, and he figured he was about due. With that in mind, he'd gone to the doctor and asked him for some help and the use of his clinic for the evening. The man had been surprised at Ranma's explanation, but more than willing to help once he'd gotten over his shock.

Now, Ranma was waiting.

"Airen!"

It seemed that Shampoo had arrived first. Already she was plastered to his side, trying to convince him to choose her by rubbing herself against him. Really, she wasn't doing herself any favours. She never listened to him, she invaded his personal space, her Jusenkyo curse was a _cat_ of all things, and she always brought him the same thing to eat – which he never wanted in the first place, but at least it wasn't Ryoga on a platter any more.

Ranma picked up one of the medical needles that had been laid out beside him and carefully jabbed it into the purple-haired Chinese nuisance.

"Ai...ren..." Shampoo said again, but her tight grip on him was loosened and she slumped onto her knees then backwards, out cold from the heavy sedative Ranma had just used on her.

He quickly wrapped her up in a straitjacket, so she wouldn't be glomping him again any time soon, and then rolled her off to the side before returning to his seat – checking first just in case Kodachi had appeared while he was preoccupied with Shampoo and had booby-trapped it.

"Darling Ranma-sama!"

Ah, there she was. Snuggling up to him with a black rose held between her lips. Yeah, just what he never wanted – a psychotic girl with a talent for narcotics and a neurotic joy in causing other people to suffer as long as she came out on top. Ridiculous.

The sedative that Ranma stuck into _her_ was enough to knock out an elephant. With all the poisons she regularly handled, Ranma wasn't taking any chances. He put her in another straitjacket.

Ranma didn't know why Dr Tofu had one straitjacket, let alone two, but right now no one was going to catch him complaining about it. As far as he was concerned, he'd lucked out. He wasn't going to ask why Dr Tofu had elephant-strength sedative either. It was probably for when himself or Ryoga, they were that hard to knock out. Well, he was keeping a lot of it on hand for any time that Kodachi started to come around.

First, he carried Shampoo back to the restaurant and presented her to Cologne and Mousse.

"I have no intention of ever marrying her," he stated firmly. "But I figure you're not giving up until she's got a child by me, right?" he scowled.

Cologne cackled and nodded. "Does this mean you surrender son-in-law?" she asked, a horrible, greedy smile on her face.

Ranma tossed the sleeping girl at the bespectacled boy. "Like heck," he growled, and pulled a container out of his pocket, handing it over to Cologne. "You can use _that_ to get my children in your damn clan. I'm marrying who _I_ want."

Cologne blinked in surprise at the container of sperm, looked up at Ranma's face, and sighed. "Fine," she grumbled. "Come on Mousse. We'd best do this quickly. Artificial insemination isn't a fun process, so we'll take advantage of Shampoo's sedated state."

Mousse nodded and followed.

"Oi Mousse," Ranma called, stalling the other boy for a moment.

"What?"

"The sedative will leave her woozy in the morning. Maybe you should try winning her then," he advised. "And maybe get some new glasses, so that you can actually see?" he suggested.

Mousse blushed. Possibly in shame, fury or embarrassment, and then hurried off behind Cologne, still carrying his beloved Shampoo.

Ranma sighed and noticed that Kodachi was beginning to stir. He gave her another jab of the sedative, tranquilliser really, and hurried off to a building that was staffed by men in clean white coats, and had rooms with padded walls.

"She's a danger to society and herself," Ranma said as he laid her out on a stretcher that the doctors had brought out when they spotted him. "For everybody's sake, I'd advise you to keep her restrained at all times, and sedated, and don't let her cook, or give her a room with a window. It's just not safe."

The doctors had nodded their understanding. It wasn't a pleasant duty they performed, but for some it was necessary – and so was following the requests of the people who brought them their charges.

"Who should we contact about her?" one doctor asked.

"Her name is Kuno Kodachi, so I'd say the Kuno family, but I'm concerned that they might all need to be put under your care," Ranma answered solemnly.

"Ah," the doctor said, smiling. "Another Kuno. That's fine, we know how to handle those ones."

Ranma smiled back, and headed home.

"Ranma?" Akane said, rubbing at her eyes as she sat up in her bed, having been woken up by Ranma coming in through the window. "What were you doing out so late?"

"Go back to sleep Akane, and have sweet dreams about never being bothered by Chinese Amazons or the crazy Kodachi ever again," Ranma answered, kissing her cheek softly and pulling her quilt up over her.

Akane smiled as she lay back down. "That sounds like a really nice dream," she said softly.

The next day, Ranma's mother was visiting the dojo, and Ranma was particularly happy because he had an announcement to make – one he'd discussed just quickly with Akane when they'd both woken up that morning, before going down to breakfast.

"Today," Ranma said, "Akane has agreed to make a true man out of me, and let me make a woman out of her."

"My son?"asked Nodoka, hopefully, her eyes shining.

"We are ready to get married," Akane said, smiling shyly as she sat next to Ranma.

"What about the other ones?" Nabiki asked.

Ranma's eyes hardened. "I dealt with them last night," he said. "That's why I was out so late, for which I apologise. They should not be bothering us ever again."

"A grand wedding!" Suon and Genma insisted happily, crying with joy that their schools would be united at last.  
"We don't have the money for it," Nabiki said flatly.

"We want something simple anyway," Akane slipped in, her words firm.

"Wedding clothes aren't cheap, even for a simple wedding," Nabiki pointed out.

Ranma smiled. "But it _is_ possible to get a white dress that doesn't cost the earth, and I have a pair of black suit pants and a collar shirt."

"And with all the pictures that Nabiki's been taking, she's probably better than a professional photographer anyway," Akane put in. "And don't you charge us for the pictures, when we know you're just going to sell them to Kuno-senpai anyway."

Nabiki smiled. "Well, that's true," she said. "But what about booking a church? Holding a reception? Sending out invitations and the guest list?"

"We'll find a judge with a register and that will be the end of it," Akane answered.

"As for the guest list and invitations," Ranma said, and put on a bright smile, "you are all cordially invited to the wedding of Saotome Ranma and Tendo Akane, it is happening today as soon as we can find a nice dress and a judge. How's that?" he asked.

Kasumi chuckled.

Ranma and Akane were married by lunch time. Their parents had the official wedding sheets – which had been in use since lunch time – when the couple finally emerged in time for dinner before they left for their honeymoon.

"Is my son a true man?" Nodoka asked Akane quietly, taking her new daughter-in-law aside during the farewells.

"Oh yes," Akane said appreciatively, watching Ranma as he dealt with two sobbing fathers just across the room. "A man. Very much a man. A kind, considerate, loving, devoted, wonderful man," she said.

"How many time did he make you come?" Nabiki asked, indelicately, but quietly all the same.

Nodoka, Kasumi and Akane all blushed at Nabiki's question.

"The first time? Only the once," Akane stammered. "The second time, when all of the pain had completely faded and Ranma had some idea of what he was doing?" she smiled and looked over at her husband again. "Six times."

All of the women's eyes went wide at the proclamation.

"I've never heard of it being possible," Nodoka said.

"And him?" Nabiki asked, probing for details still.

Akane looked at her sister with a put-out and put-upon expression. "First and second time refer to when _he_ came, and we rolled over and stopped for breath," she explained.

"Men get aroused more easily than women, but their recovery time is longer," Nodoka said quietly, blushing to hear of how her son was in bed. "My mother told me when I was married, and I found it to be true. I'm just passing on the knowledge," she added when all the younger girls looked at her in surprise.

Akane chuckled. "I believe it," she said, then turned to her oldest sister. "Kasumi, I love you, but really, _marry Dr Tofu already_. He loves you, you love him, and really, he's just as fit as Ranma, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Kasumi blushed and stared at her youngest sister while Nabiki laughed.

"Akane," Ranma called. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Akane answered happily, leaving her sisters, her mother-in-law, and their father's behind to take Ranma's arm and leave the dojo, leave Nerima district of Tokyo, leave Tokyo altogether. They were going to Kyoto for the next couple of weeks.

"Akane," Ranma said, taking her hand as he sat next to her on the train.

"Yes Ranma?" turning her delighted face from the window to him.

Ranma smiled, glad she was enjoying herself. "I love you," he told her.

Akane's excited smile softened to one of contented joy. "I love you too."

~The End~


End file.
